If Your Firm Was A Body Part, What Would It Be ? (Updated)

Goldman Sachs, for example, is most surely the brain (clever, switched on and always thinking ahead). Then again, Goldman could be the finger - as that's what its many critics accuse the firm of often giving to other market participants.

And Citi must be the liver (you know, almost at death's door, but has now made a great recovery following a period of abstinence).

The eyes, of course, are probably regulators The Securities andExchange Commission and The Financial Services Authority (or maybe they are the nose, sniffing out the bad smells ?).

The heart must be the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, pumping liquidity into the markets, the lungs were probably Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers (diseased and ultimately killing off the rest of the body), the stomach perhaps The Royal Bank of Scotland (bloated, but better now after heavy dieting).

The spine could be JPMorgan Chase - upright and true, always trying to do the right thing. The hip might be Jefferies & Co - the firm, after all, is pretty 'hip' these days! And the ear is possibly UBS, as the bank has had to do a lot of listening over the last few years (to the US Justice Department, Swiss authorities, shareholders, etc).

Bank of America is surely the groin, where it has been kicked many times in recent years.

And Dresdner Kleinwort was most probably the appendix - after Commerzbank acquired it, it was quickly taken out.

Here are some reader suggestions:

BNP Paribas - the appendix. Not essential, but can be painful. If left unmanaged, could be life threatening.

Credit Suisse - the feet. Always walking, but never getting too far from the shore.

HSBC- the back. Strong and solid, but never leading the way. Always behind the curve(s).

RBS - the toenail. Always needs cutting, ugly and unloved by all, but tough as old boots and keeps growing back.

State Street - the hands. The left never knows what the right is doing.